scholarly journals Socioeconomic variation in child educational and socioeconomic attainment after parental death in Sweden

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieron J. Barclay ◽  
Martin Hällsten
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieron Barclay ◽  
Martin Hällsten

In this study we use Swedish population register data to examine whether parental death differentially affects educational and occupational attainment according to the socioeconomic status of the parent who dies, and the socioeconomic status of the surviving parent and extended kin. That is, we examine whether parental death has an equalizing or exacerbating effect on offspring socioeconomic attainment, and also whether the socioeconomic status of the rest of the family plays a meaningful role in compensating for parental death. Using data on cohorts born 1973 to 1982 we examine five different outcomes, which are grade point average (GPA) at age 16 in high school, the transition from lower to upper-secondary education, the transition to tertiary education, overall educational attainment, and occupational status by age 30. We match families based upon antemortem parental socioeconomic trajectories. Overall, we find mixed results in our between-family regression analyses adjusting for observables, with inconsistent evidence suggesting that losing a parent with very high socioeconomic resources is worse, and some evidence for a protective effect if the socioeconomic resources of the surviving parent and extended family members are at the top of the distribution. Using sibling fixed effects models that adjust for unobservable factors shared within the family, we see zero results for moderation by parents’ occupations, but find consistent evidence that it is worse to lose a father at a younger age if grandparents have higher ranked occupations. We discuss possible interpretations of our findings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaehong Yoon ◽  
Ja Young Kim ◽  
Ji-Hwan Kim ◽  
Seung-Sup Kim

Abstract Background We sought to examine the association between childhood experience of parental death (CEPD) and adulthood suicidal ideation, and the mediating role of adulthood SES in the association. Methods We analyzed a nationally representative dataset of 8609 adults from the Korea Welfare Panel Study, which is a longitudinal cohort dataset in South Korea. CEPD was measured using a question: “During your childhood (0-17 years old), have you experienced the death of parents?” We classified responses of CEPD during 2006–2011 into ‘yes,’ and the others into ‘no.’ Suicidal ideation over the past year was assessed annually during 2012–2019. As a potential mediator, adulthood educational attainment and household income in 2011 were included in the analysis. Logistic regression was applied to examine the association of CEPD with adulthood suicidal ideation across age groups (early adulthood, 19–39 years old; middle adulthood, 40–59 years old; late adulthood, ≥60 years old), after excluding people who reported lifetime suicidal ideation in 2011. Causal mediation analysis using a parametric regression model was applied to examine the mediating role of adulthood SES in the association between CEPD and adulthood suicidal ideation. Results After adjusting for potential confounders including childhood SES, CEPD was significantly associated with adulthood suicidal ideation among the late adulthood group (OR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.13–1.81), while the association was not statistically significant among the early; and middle adulthood groups. In mediation analysis of adulthood household income, both indirect association (ORNIE: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.02–1.09) and direct association (ORNDE: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.09–1.73) were statistically significant among the late adulthood group. In the mediation analysis of adulthood education attainment among the late adulthood, only a direct association was statistically significant (ORNDE: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.14–1.80). Conclusions These results suggest that CEPD could be a risk factor for adulthood suicidal ideation. Furthermore, the findings imply that income security policy might be necessary to reduce suicide among the late adulthood group.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 450-450
Author(s):  
Shu Xu

Abstract The loss of a family member may have a significant influence on one’s aging experience in life. Self-perceptions of aging, which are an individual’s beliefs or evaluation of their experiences of aging, have been described as an important factor for one’s health and daily life. However, there is little research on the association between family death and self-perceptions of aging. This study examines the relationships between recent family death, self-perceptions of aging, and gender of the bereaved among middle-aged and older adults. Using nationally representative data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we conducted cross-sectional analysis on adults age 50 years and older (n=1,839). Self-perceptions of aging were accessed by 8 items derived from the Attitudes Toward Own Aging subscale of the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale and the Berlin Aging Study, and we considered recent family death (i.e., parental death, spousal death, sibling death and child death), as well as gender of the bereaved. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that respondents who experienced recent family death report less positive self-perceptions of aging compared to those who did not experience recent family death (t = 12.40, p < .01). Recent parental death was more negatively related with self-perceptions of aging for bereaved women than for bereaved men (χ2 = 4.28, p < .05). Findings suggest that middle-aged and older adults experiencing recent family loss have less positive self-perceptions of aging, and gender of the bereaved plays an important role in the relationship between parental death and self-perceptions of aging.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2098556
Author(s):  
Karsten Hank

Despite the important role of adult parent–child and sibling relations in the family system, only few studies have investigated yet, how the common adult experience of parental death impacts sibling relations. Estimating fixed-effects regression models using four waves of data from the German Family Panel (pairfam; n = 4,123 respondents), the present note focused on changes in three dimensions of adult siblings’ relationship qualities following the first parent’s death. Our analysis revealed a short-term positive effect of parental death on sibling contacts as well as longer-lasting increases in emotional closeness and conflicts. Next to an intensification of sibling relations following the first parent’s death, we also detected significant spillover effects from respondents’ relationship with the surviving parent to their sibling relations. Our analysis thus provided evidence for adult parent–child and sibling relations to be “linked in life and death,” underlining the benefits of jointly analyzing intra- and intergenerational family relationships.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003022282110244
Author(s):  
Niñoval Flores Pacaol

Bereavement and mourning are arguably one of the research interests of psychologists, psychoanalysts, and psychiatrists since Freud’s publication of Mourning and Melancholia. This paper is a qualitative case study that sought to examine the mourning experience of the participant from childhood until his adolescence. For theoretical foundation, the four tasks of mourning primarily developed by James Worden was utilized for the proper direction of the research inquiry; namely: a.) accepting the reality of death; b.) experiencing the feeling of grief; c.) adjusting and creating new meanings in the post-loss world; and d.) reconfiguring the bond with the lost person. The paper finds that the participant’s cognitive attitude, emotional experiences, and personal observations of the environment enable him to overcome actively (in an overlapping manner) the three tasks of mourning. However, the failure to find an enduring connection with his deceased parents is not a result of strong attachment but with the absence of personal belief about the meta-existence of God.


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